About Us

The phrase "a trade for a trade" has always had a special meaning to Kendra's family. As the oldest of 5 kids, she witnessed many unfair swaps as everyone grew up. "A trade for a trade" came to mean any deal that was fair to people on both sides of the table. It's surprisingly useful: "I'll give you one M&M for one Skittle. A trade for a trade."

For us, it means paying artisans a fair wage, then turning around and offering a fair deal to our customers. We have lived in Japan, Australia, and Montana, and have traveled extensively. We love research, crafts, and travel, but found that many of the “international” crafts in the U.S. are actually made in Chinese or Taiwanese sweatshops, which often pay their workers an appallingly low wage. Not exactly “a trade for a trade.”

While living abroad, we dreamed of lots of ways to bring back the amazing goods we found. In thinking how to do this, we kept coming back to a website where we could interact with our customers, giving them information about why they should buy ethical crafts, as well as providing a place where they could feel good about the products they buy.

If we owned a store, we'd be the kind of people following you around, trying to tell you the history of each scarf, necklace, and wood block stamp. "Oh, you like that journal? It was made in the Himalayas by blind nuns." To save you from that, we've written out all the product information you could possibly want so you can read it at your leisure.

To make it easy to jump on board, you can search by ethical category, country, or collection. A Trade For A Trade believes business can be a tool for positive change — we strive to be socially responsible by reusing packaging, minimizing waste, and recycling. Read more about us at www.atradeforatrade.com/blog